Alan Caruba's blog is a daily look at events, personalities, and issues from an independent point of view. Copyright, Alan Caruba, 2015. With attribution, posts may be shared. A permission request is welcome. Email acaruba@aol.com.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Commander-in-Cliche

By Alan Caruba

Some of my favorite science fiction villains are the “shape-shifters” like the cyborg from the 1984 “Terminator” movie. Barack Hussein Obama reminds me a lot of those creatures.

All during the campaign, the use of his middle name was decried as a subtle form of racism, suggesting his Muslim roots, but when he took the oath of office, there it was and, in Cairo, Obama stressed those same roots. Salaam Alaykum everyone!

His Cairo speech, however, was met predictably by his Arab Muslim audience with less than enthusiasm and, as always, the endless complaints by people for whom democracy is an illusion and oppression is a way of life.

Our Commander-in-Cliché did not disappoint anyone by saying anything original. “We have a responsibility to join together on behalf of the world we seek.” No kidding! Wow! Obama is under the impression that America and the nations of the Middle East “share common principles—principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.”

I suppose that explains all the bombings of mosques, the beheadings, the endless turmoil from so-called Palestinians who have refused to accept a two-state solution for six decades or been assimilated into Muslim nations for all that time. For Obama, their situations was one of “occupation” but it doubtful that Obama will ever reference the many Arab “settlements” in the West Bank or the way Arabs have pushed out Jewish and Christian residents from Israeli cities whenever they gained a majority foothold.

For the Arabs, the response to his speech was the very tired claims about the Palestinians (there is not, nor ever was, a “Palestinian” state. Palestinians are stateless Arabs.) The Arab man in the street tended to dismiss Obama as “just a prettier face,” as one Cairo electrician put it. “I don’t expect much from the man.” Both newspapers and ordinary Arabs who had previously welcomed Obama’s election warned against emulating George W. Bush by “lecturing Muslims about democracy.”

Osama bin Laden put out the word that Islam was locked into a very long war with America, democracy, human rights, whatever. The man desperately needs killing.

There is, of course, one genuine democracy in the Middle East and that is Israel. Iraq’s first steps toward democracy were made possible by an American invasion, the removal of Saddam Hussein, and our continued military presence. If we go, democracy is likely to leave with us. That leaves Turkey which has practiced democracy with some success so long as its army can keep Islamists from taking over.

With considerable irony, having stopped in Saudi Arabia just prior to his Cairo speech, a Saudi newspaper warned Muslims against having high expectations. “The Islamic world should not think that Obama is coming to be an ally or a supporter,” said an Al Riyadh editorial.

In Tehran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the guy that runs Iran, said “The nations of this part of the world…deeply hate America because during many years they have seen violence, military interference, rights violations, discrimination…from America.” Not like Iraq under Saddam who invaded Iran and made war for eight years; that guy was a real statesman. In Iran, you can get hanged for just about anything including littering.

As for Israel, Khamenei called it a “cancerous tumor in the heart” of the Muslim world. And Iran backs up that bile by funding both Hamas and Hezbollah, the two Palestinian terrorist organizations. Egypt and Jordan who both signed peace accords with Israel probably disagree.

Obama called the bonds between America and Israel “unbreakable”, but it’s hard to know what this presidential shape-shifter will say tomorrow, so proceed with caution.

For his Middle East Muslim audience, Obama’s speech largely fell on deaf ears. The only things they want is for Israel to go away, for the U.S. to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan, and for Islam to be the lone religion of the world. With more than a billion Muslims in the world, however, it is doubtful they all agree on any common view of America or the future.

One thing we do know, however, even if Obama does not, is that there are just over two million Muslims in America and one assumes most are happy living here. His deliberate tripling of that number suggests ignorance or his rather odd notion that America is not a Christian nation and is, in fact, a major Muslim one.

Is Obama sincere in his latest appearance on the world stage outside of the White House? He could be just the pathological narcissist we have come to know from the days of his campaign. He could be a Muslim with a secret agenda. It is hard to know anything for sure about Obama except that, since taking the oath of office he has tirelessly worked to destroy our economy in every way possible. Overseas, no one appears to take him seriously.

On June 5, Obama visits Buchenwold, the former Nazi concentration camp. He might just make a connection between that place and Israel’s right to exist on its own terms, not his. In Tehran, Mamoud Ahmadinejad will be busy telling everyone who will listen that the Holocaust never happened.

Fortunately for our Commander-in-Cliché, he gets to strut and fret his stuff upon the world stage again as he pays homage to D-Day on June 6, the 65th anniversary of when Americans continued their tradition of rescuing Europeans from themselves. Now there is very little left of Europe to rescue. It has long since become Eurabia.

No doubt he will deliver another speech filled with hope and change and, well, whatever. We’ve heard it all before. He’s beginning to bore everyone, but worse, he’s beginning to scare everyone, too.

6 comments:

1. When politicians are running for office they travel a lot and blather a lot! After they have won, they generally work....a lot! Not always smart, but a lot!

Has four years already gone by?

2. Democracy as we know it seems so obviously beneficial that we simply don't realize that American democracy is an historical anomaly. It just doesn’t translate as well elsewhere, and Europe (which has a closer philosophical bond to America than the rest of the world) is a classic example of that.

In other parts of the world we find that when people have the right to vote into office whomever they please, it pleases them to vote in the kind of people who will take the vote away from them. In Islamic countries they also seem to like to vote in people who like to kill everyone else.

American democracy is a paradigm that is truly unique because of how the country was formed. Insisting that the rest of the world will be just like America just because they have a vote is irrational....and history has shown this to be true, and insisting that we can create a bond of understanding with them just because we want it or because ti sounds good is....welllll...stupid.

And no, it hasn't been four years yet even though it feels like it. Remember, Obama has to make sure that ACORN has enough time to stuff the ballot boxes by 2012.

As for the differences in culture, you are again on target. Americans are different in their outlook than other nations and other peoples...often radically different.

I have never thought we could export our political system, but I did think that Bush was right in ridding the ME of Saddam where he was a major destabilizing factor for decades. Beyond that, the effort to drag these people into the 21st century will be a long, hard one.

If Obama believes what he says, he is a great fool, devoid of any real understanding of history. That makes him a dangerous fool in terms of our national security and future.

It's laughable to see those in power try to push democracy on the Middle East. Islam does not promote morality, we can see the impact of this religion all over the world, almost everyday.(see http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/)

Benjamin Franklin said "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." Of course we can see ourselves as well as those under Islamic rule in Mr. Franklin's statement.

President Reagan wisely warned us that "without God there is not virtue because there is no prompting of the conscience… without God there is a coarsening of society; without God democracy will not and can not long endure… if we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under."

How can we purport to export a system of law based upon a virtuous society when we ourselves have set upon an experiment in secularism?

I really thought the Obama speech was a strange sort of auto-coronationof himself as a wise student of history with just the right mix ofconservative Islam, with tolerant liberalism, or the Pharaoh of a "New Morality"(in his eyes)!

Suddenly, he is a Christian again, (while over there)but a different kind of Christian, the kind that values Islam over Christianity, one whom appreciates and knows Islam, while the rest of us unwashed masses are left to mature(to it).

The main message seemed to be: 'forget Americans, trust me, they will follow me, so you should trust me, for I am practically one of you'!

Also; 'You, know I must go after the most violent among you, but other than that- do what you wish'!

Millions of those truly suppressed by these oppressive regimes cannot even hope for Americas help now, and Israel has been reminded about the thinness of the string attached to their very existence, while also seeing the fallacy of a false freedom when it is determined by someone holding that string in one hand with a knife in the other!

As Americans, we too should look at Israels situation in our own lives, for the more you are given, the more dependent you are, the more helpless you become.

A very naive,inexperienced, and narcissistic man could be holding a carrot in one hand while his razor sharp knife is up against your lifeline with the other!

About Me

I am and have been for a long time a writer by profession. I have several books to my credit and my daily column, "Warning Signs", is disseminated on many Internet news and opinion websites, as well as blogs. In addition, I am a longtime book reviewer and have a blog offering a monthly report on new fiction and non-fiction.